Tag Archives: London

For years, nobody actually knew who he was. There was only his graffiti to go by, artfully profaning the buildings, streets and subway systems of Britain.

One of modern history‘s most talented and incognito insurgents, Banksy’s is a legacy of revolution and fearlessness, of upheaval and political oppression, of normativity and why we should question it.

Nobody actually knows who Banksy is. But according to the most recent and in-depth investigations, he was, by all accounts, a product of public school and middle-class suburbia.

He was probably something like you.

He was another boy in the rank-and-file of British social assent, and he left it all behind.

Celebrities like Gwen Stefani and Brad Pitt now fork over millions of dollars for his paintings. Britain itself bears the marks of his revolt against conformity and oppression.

The frenzied search goes on for concrete confirmation of Banksy’s identity.

But Banksy’s entire artistic career turns on a determination to keep his “real” identity hidden. Why, then, are we so intent on ferreting out his personal information? Why are his “real” name and his schooling and his parentage so much more important than the art itself?

The fault lies not with Banksy, but with us. Banksy sacrificed his claim to renown so that another identity might be made clear: that of a revolutionary prepared for combat with his native culture. For so many years, we have missed the point.

Banksy took himself out of the picture so that his art might be the focus. He doesn’t need you to know his name. A name is just a name.